A report by Asylum Access and the Refugee Work Rights Coalition which examines 30% of the global refugee population (nearly 5 million refugees in 15 countries) and the struggles they face when attempting to access safe and lawful employment. In doing so, it highlights the many barriers to refugee employment and the opportunities for the refugee-serving community to intervene to expand access to work rights. The report provides a breakdown of the legal framework supporting refugees rights to work, as well as useful economic arguments that may be advanced to encourage policy makers to realize work rights in policy and practice.

An evaluation of a DfID pilot project to help drought-affected farmers achieve food security by delivering cash using mobile phone technology, examining the use of cash transfers via mobile phone, rather than the impact of the programme itself. This evaluation further examines whether the technology used was appropriate and whether it could reduce the use of coping strategies and whether it would work in the challenging humanitarian context of Afghanistan.

A research study on the relevance and applicability of cash-based programming options in the Kabul Informal Settlements. The report identifies the risks and protection issues of a cash-based approach, and assesses the viability of a cash-based approach for IDPs living in the Kabul Informal Settlements.

There are over 50 informal settlements in Kabul (KIS) where mainly returnee and IDP households live in extreme poverty and vulnerability. The working population in KIS can be identified as low-skilled and economically disadvantaged workers. In such a context, skills upgrading can be an effective policy intervention to strengthen the local integration of the working poor and can lead to poverty reduction in KIS. This evaluation of Solidarités International's Vocational Training Programme in the KIS draws on a Kabul labour market survey and a household survey of labour supply in the KIS before reviewing the potential of vocational training to be used as an integration tool.

Powerpoint presentation to accompany the Urban Refugee Task Team webinar led by the International Rescue Committee on ICT and Outreach in Urban Settings, with a case study on Lebanon. To view the follow webinar, click here.

Urban displacement and peace building: An analysis of South African social cohesion interventions

Jessica Anderson, The George Washington University

This study questions the assumptions around issues of community and participation that are frequently used in peacebuilding rhetoric, and analyses the extent to which these assumptions apply in urban displacement contexts. Many peacebuilding organisations claim to promote participation and community cohesion, even though these processes might look very different in diverse and mobile urban spaces than they do in an IDP camp or rural village. As a result, critical research is needed to address the underlying assumptions of peacebuilding approaches and their relevance to a context of urban displacement. Research on these assumptions can shed light on how to carry out more effective interventions in the future, and how the norms of peacebuilding should be re-evaluated for a context of urban displacement.

Cash based assistance programmes for IDPs in the Kabul informal settlements

An Evaluation for the Danish Refugee Council and Welt Hunger Hilfe

Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) are actively providing, in the Kabul informal settlements, targeted assistance to enhance the livelihood potential of IDP households. This evaluation is of the mobile-based cash assistance programme aimed at supporting IDP families. The evaluation methodology focuses specifically on user perceptions, as well as key impact and vulnerability indicators to help implementors refine the technology for future assistance.

This pilot evaluation explores how citizenship and agency among social activists can be fostered in contexts of urban violence at the local level. Many initiatives and approaches to addressing violence, particularly urban violence, tend to focus on security sector reform and policing, infrastructure and livelihoods. The role of citizens living in slums, informal settlements and housing estates in acting to stop violence and promoting peaceful relations is less understood and supported.

The focus of this pilot is to understand how a sense of democratic citizenship and the ability to act on that citizenship at the local level can contribute to reducing different types of urban violence and promote security. The case study for this analysis is based in the informal settlement of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and focuses on community activism against gender-based violence.

Maternal mental health in the context of community based home-visiting in a re-engineered primary health care system: A case study of the Philani Mentor Mothers programme

Mark Tomlinson

This study describes the context of mental health in South Africa, and draws on a case study of a generalist health intervention with a maternal mental health component by a South African NGO, Philani. The study draws lessons from this organisation to attempt to surmount the significant obstacles to holistic and equitable health care delivery in low-income, urban settings in South Africa.

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Pervasive but not the political order: violence, xenophobia and insecurity in townships

Professor Lawrence Piper and Joanna Wheeler

A case study from a settlement in Cape Town, South Africa, with a reported history of xenophobic violence, that examines the drivers of xenophobic incidents and the relationship between xenophobic violence and political power or community leadrship.

This report presents the findings of a one-month pilot research study of the livelihoods of refugees in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, between July and August 2012. The core research objectives are to understand:

1) the nature of the relationships between refugee livelihoods and the private sector

2) the role of innovation and technology in refugees’ economic strategies.

Given its limited duration, a significant proportion of this mission was devoted to exploring the first core objective. In particular, we aimed to gather initial qualitative data on the following two specific research questions related to refugee livelihoods and the private sector:

1. What types of livelihoods strategies are employed by refugees living in Kampala, Nakivale and Kyangwali refugee settlements, and what are the characteristics of their economic activities?

2. Which markets/private sector actors do refugees access and interact with through their livelihoods activities in each research site?

This report compiles data from urban refugees in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Kathmandu. It outlines challenges faced by urban refugees in these locations before addressing the ways in which individuals and communities develop their strength, resilience and agency, concluding with common themes to enable service providers to better assist these groups.

Concern Worldwide is currently undertaking large scale routine data collection in informal settlements of Nairobi and other major urban areas in Kenya. This has resulted in the collection of baseline household information on WASH, food security, personal security, livelihoods, morbidity and coping strategies, and suggests these domains have the potential to be key indicators of urban crisis onset.

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Humanitarian Interventions in Settings of Urban Violence

Insights from the ALNAP Urban Response Community of Practice

Discussions emerging from the Urban Response Community of Practice include: The challenges of a context not covered by international law; respect of core humanitarian principles in urban contexts; how urban violence increases the risk of poor targetting; effective entry points to deal with armed actors; organisation along geographical rather than sectoral lines; and finally, is it the resposability of humanitarian actors to address urban violence?

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Still at risk: Security of tenure and the forced eviction of IDPs and refugee returnees in urban Afghanistan

This report reviews cases of actual and threatened evictions of IDPs and refugee returnees from informal settlements in and around all the major Afghan cities where the Norwegian Refugee Council has an established field presence. Its main message is the urgent need to ensure legal security of tenure for urban IDPs and refugee returnees, based on a better understanding of Afghanistan’s complex urban dynamics.

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Exploring the potential and limits of the resilience agenda in rapidly urbanising contexts

IDS Evidence Report

Drawing on two case studies (one large city – Mumbai in India, and one smaller city – Khulna in Bangladesh), this project aims to analyse the emergence of the concept of ‘urban resilience’ in the literature and to assess the potential and limitations of this concept as an element of policy narrative, especially in the context of rapid urbanisation processes.

Many countries are currently undertaking mapping of community based child protection mechanisms (CBCPMs) as a critical step in strengthening child protection systems. This project, which includes research in Kampala, Uganda, and in Rwandan refugee camps, is the first study of CBCPMs undertaken in refugee settings.The research seeksto identify what urban refugees see as the main harms or risks to children, what CBCPMs exist and how they are used, what protective factors enable children’s positive coping and resilience, and whether and how the CBCPMs link with elements of the formal, government led aspects of the national child protection system. This study had a special focus on the protective effects of education.

Districts). Assessed population groups include not only registered Syrian refugees, but also vulnerable

Lebanese families, unregistered refugee households, and refugees registered in other regions but having

moved to Mount Lebanon since, whose access to assistance is demonstrably affected by this displacement.

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Forced labour, human trafficking and mental health: the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia

Health Equity Initiatives

Malaysia is host to one of the largest refugee and asylum seeker populations in Asia. Unable to work legally in the country, many refugees and asylum seekers survive on low-paying jobs in the plantation, construction, manufacturing, or service sectors, without legal protection and with increased vulnerability to human trafficking and forced labor. Protection and psychosocial assistance to people who have experienced forced labor and human trafficking, and the specific vulnerability of refugees and asylum seekers to forced labor and human trafficking, are emerging areas of concern in Malaysia—although lacking in systematic enquiry. Equally, the medical and psychological consequences of forced labor are a relatively under-examined research topic. This report seeks to address these gaps.

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Kenya: End abusive round ups

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch report on the ongoing harassment, arbitrary detentions and forced relocations to refugee camps carried out by Kenyan authorities. Throughout the round-up operation that began on the 1st April, Government security forces have raided homes, buildings and shops; looted cell phones, money and other goods; harrassed and extorted residents; and detained thousnads without charge in appalling condictions.

A qualitative exploration of access to urban migrant healthcare in Nairobi, Kenya

Christine Arnolda, Jason Theede and Anita Gagnona,

International organisations have highlighted the potential for marginalisation of urban migrants from mainstream health programming and a significant lack of data upon which to base their activities. Based on qualitative research in four communities in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, this report provides a greater understanding of urban migrants’ barriers to accessing healthcare compared with barriers faced by Kenyans living in the same locations.

Highlights from the report include:

Migrants experience similar barriers to accessing healthcare as Kenyans do

With the increasing trend in refugee urbanisation, growing numbers of refugees are diagnosed with chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). However, with few exceptions, communicable diseases remain the key subject of interest both within the local and the international community. This study reviews the literature to determine the prevalence and distribution of chronic NCDs among urban refugees living in developing countries; reports on refugee access to health care for NCDs; and compares the prevalance of NCDs among urban refugees with the prevalence in their home countries.